Trinity
by Philip S
Summary: When a massive vampire attack leaves Buffy and Angel near death, Willow must resort to desperate measures to save the lives of her friends. Measures that will leave them all forever changed and threaten to once again unleash the evil of Angelus. Written in 2000, re-published on demand.


Trinity  
by Philip S.

Disclaimer: All things Buffy belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. Only the story itself is mine.

Please note: I wrote this story back in 2000 when I had just begun writing fan fiction and had pretty much forgotten about it. Cue Iceflame55, who PM'd me about one of my old stories and caused me to dig through my backed-up files. So here is the story, written at the very beginning of my fan fiction writing career. Please be kind.

* * *

Willow looked down on her two friends and almost fainted from the horror of it all. She had been on patrol with them tonight and had seen them take on no less than twenty Vampires spilling out of the underground tunnels with murder on their mind. Buffy and Angel had fought valiantly, but in the end it had availed them nothing.

Buffy was lying on her side and looked like she was sleeping. Her beautiful skin was bruised all over, she was bleeding from a dozen different slashes. Two crimson marks were visible against the paleness of her skin. There was so little blood, because it was all gone.

Angel was lying next to her, what was left of him. The Vampires had not staked him, that would have been too easy for the rouge who betrayed his kind to the Slayer. They had torn him apart, torn off his arms and legs and left him lying to wait for the sun to rise. It was less than an hour away.

Willow had remained out of sight, for there was nothing she could have done. Now she crawled towards her friends, tears streaming down her cheeks. Buffy was so still, but Willow refused to believe she was dead. She crawled towards her friend and cradled her cooling form in her arms.

„Buffy, please, wake up! The Vampires are gone. Please wake up!"  
The blonde girl did not stir, no matter how hard Willow pressed her to her flesh. This could not be, she could not be dead. Willow had never told her how much she cared for her.

„Willow!" someone whispered. The voice was little more than a whisper. She looked up, barely seeing past the tears. Angel had moved his head to the side to look at her. His face was a bloody mask. The stumps of his arms and legs moved, blood and bone fragments staining the grass.

„Angel", she crawled over to him and cradled his head in her lap, „You are alive."  
„Barely", he whispered, „what about Buffy?"  
„She ... she is dead. She is dead. Dead!" Willow started crying again.  
„No ... no, she is alive. I can hear her heartbeat."  
„She is alive?" „Her pulse is faint. Get her to the doctor!"

Willow looked around. They were near the Garland cemetry, almost outside the city. The nearest doctor was miles away. She could see no payphone, nothing. According to her watch the sunrise was about twenty minutes away.  
„I can't, Angel. I can't carry her, I am too weak. And I can't leave you to the sun."

Angel looked over at Buffy's still form.  
„If she dies, I don't want to survive."  
Willow looked at her two friends and shivered. Losing one of them was bad enough, but both? Losing both of them at the same time? No, she could not allow that. Anything but that.

She remembered something. She walked over the bag she had dropped and took out a large book. It was a book of witchcraft she had loaned from Giles. She had barely managed to browse through it before going on patrol, but she remembered seeing a spell that might help them.

The spell of the Trinity. The binding of life forces into a greater whole, three mages becoming one and combining their powers into something larger than the sum of its parts. It was also rumored to possess healing properties, as the combined life force of all three could be used to heal all injuries.

No one had used that spell in centuries. There was no way to know if it worked with only one of the three a mage. All of them had a supernatural talent, though. Angel a Vampire, Buffy a Slayer, Willow a Witch. It had to work. Willow would gladly give her life for her three friends.

„I can safe us, Angel!" Willow said. „How?" the Vampire asked.  
Willow began chanting the spell, weaving her hands and gathering magical energy between her fingers. She pulled Buffy's cooling form closer to Angel and smeared both of their blood on her hands. Then she put a hand on each of their brows.

„Our blood as one, our lives as one, our souls as one. As long as one lives, the others will live. What belongs to one, belongs to all. Forever and all time, we are one."  
Magical power crackled through her body, arcing across her fingers and into the bodies of her two friends. Something inside her clicked and everything changed.

Wind roared around them and it came from their souls. Willow's hands seemed to sink into the heads of her friends, melting into their very essence. She felt the magic reach out, forging connections to the dying sparks inside Angel and Buffy, rekindling it into a towering fire.

Angel's limbs regenerated with blinding speed, bones knitting together, flesh, blood, and skin covering them. She felt it, she could feel his legs and arms returning as if they were her own. She felt the preternatural strength in his limbs, strong enough to lift a small car. She felt his thrist, the thirst for fresh blood.

Buffy gasped and bowed her spine with her first returning breath. Blood regenerated from nothingness and filled her pale skin with color. Willow leaned down and felt the warmth returning to her flesh. She felt it, felt the life return into her body, no, Buffy's body. She lived, she really lived.

„Willow?", Buffy asked, „what ...?"  
„Ssshhh!", Willow said, „everything is allright."  
Angel rose and stared at his arms and legs, the pink skin soft like a babies, new and tender. His face was a mask of disbelief, then he stared at the horizon, where the first light of the advancing sun could already be seen.

„I have to go. Let's go to the mansion! I think we need to ... talk about things."  
„We'll meet you there!" Willow said, still holding Buffy in her arms as if she would never let her go. Angel nodded and dropped into the nearest sewer entrance.

„Willow?"  
„Yes, Buffy?"  
„I ... I remember the Vamp at my throat. I felt the pain as he pierced my ... Why am I not dead?"  
„Later, Buffy, later! You have to get your strength back first. I will tell you everything when we get to Angel's mansion, promise!"

She helped Buffy back to her feet and they looked at the horizon, where the sun was just rising. Willow felt a momentary bout of panic. She had to get away from the sun, it would burn her. No, not her, that was Angel. Angel was safe in the sewer and she could feel his feet carrying him through the darkness.

In the sewer below Angel froze as he saw an image of the sun looming over the horizon. How could this be, he was underground. He saw it through two pairs of eyes and felt the warmth creeping across two sets of skin.  
„Buffy! Willow!" he whispered.

For the first time in over two centuries Angel felt the warmth of the morning sun and it did not cause him pain. He closed his eyes and watched the glory of the morning through the eyes of his two friends. Never before had he seen such beauty.

„What is happening to us, Willow?" Buffy asked.  
„I ... I am not sure."

#

„What did you do to us?" Angel asked.  
Willow hugged herself and tried not to cry. They had barely reached Angel's mansion when Buffy and Angel had begun withdrawing from her. They had walled off their thoughts, both from her and each other, trying to sever the link that could never be severed again. They had slept off their exhaustion and now they wanted answers from her. Answers she did not have.

„You were dying. It was the only way."  
Angel approached her and put a hand on her shoulder. Where he touched her electricity seemed to flow, power sparkling across his fingertips and over her skin. He gasped, but did not withdraw his hand. Buffy looked at them and Willow reached out to her.

„We are now one, Buffy, for better or worse, the three of us are one."  
Buffy looked at them with something very much like horror in her eyes and Willow felt it like a knife through her heart. Did she not feel it, did she not know what Willow felt for her? She could not have left her to die if the world had depended on it.

Maybe she saw it in her eyes, maybe she felt it through the bond. Buffy took a slow step forward and touched her fingertips to Willow's. A collective breath shuddered through them, the three parts of the whole united. But the walls were still there. Both Buffy and Angel were afraid of what was happening and Willow could understand that. She was scared herself.

„What did you do?" Buffy asked, repeating Angel's question. Willow wanted to reach out and touch them with her thoughts, but they would not let her. She had intruded into their very souls and they were suspicious of her. Willow felt their fear through the walls they had built. They had been lovers for nearly two years, and Willow had just intruded into that bond.

„The Trinity spell made us one", Willow said, „three individuals tied together for all time by merging their essences. We are now three beings with but one soul, a soul that is the sum total of our three souls and more, much more. We are stronger together than we are apart."

„You are quoting, Willow", Buffy said and Willow knew she had taken that knowledge from her thoughts, „you read some lines in that book and used that spell without really knowing what it would do."  
„But you were dying. There was no time."

Buffy broke the touch and moved away from them. Angel took his hand from Willow's shoulder and the young witch felt incredibly empty. They were withdrawing from her, parts of her soul.  
„What will that mean for us?", Angel asked, „what does it mean for our lives? Our future?"

Willow looked down.  
„I don't know, did you want to hear that? I don't know!" she felt like she should have screamed these words, but she could not. She barely whispered.  
„I could not bear the thought of losing you, both of you. I love you too much for that."

Buffy looked at her with astonishment in her face.  
„Willow, I ... you are my best friend in the world, but ..."  
„I love you, Buffy! There, I said it! I can't imagine life without you! And I know how much you and Angel love each other, how much you need each others presence. And I was hoping ... hoping that you ..."

She looked down again and the tears came flooding from her eyes. She sobbed and did not care who heard it. The Trinity should have made them one, united by magic and love, but it had driven them apart.

Buffy was in front of her suddenly, her fingers just a breath away from Willow's face. Her blue eyes shimmered with tears and Willow could not breathe, could not will her heart to beat. She stared at her beloved friend and waited.

The walls between Buffy and her crumbled and broke into dust. The shining light of Buffy's presence exploded into Willow's mind like the rising sun and she laughed with joy. She felt Buffy's love for her, something she had never extended beyond the friendship they had had, but now unleashed by the bond.

Like a cool breeze Angel came into their bond and the Trinity exploded into joy as it was complete. Magic flowed across their skins like water, their fingers entwined and power crackled through the room. Willow saw the world through Angel's eyes and felt his love for Buffy and ... did she dare believe it ... the deep friendship and, yes, love he felt for her.

Hand in hand they rode the power of the Trinity, past the doors of the mansion, outside into the night where the sun had just dropped below the horizon. Willow moved like Angel and Buffy would, feline grace and preternatural beauty, her feet barely touching the ground. The night was like silk around them, parting like water as they threw themselves into its embrace.

The superhuman speed and agility of Slayer and Vampire carried them along as Willow made them see the world as she did, currents of magic flowing between all living things, like rivers of color, liquid rainbows dancing in the dark. Angel moved his hands in conjuring motions as Willow would do, calling down the wind to sing in the trees.

Willow ran and leapt like she never would have believed possible, strength and speed of unearthly origin flowing through her veins like white-hot quicksilver. Rooftops gave way to trees and rocks as they flew past the city limit and out into the wilderness. Willow laughed and heard answering shouts of joy from Buffy and Angel.

She had no idea how long they danced and ran, jumped and weaved through the labyrinths of night. Time had lost all meaning and she could have gone on forever, never coming down from this high as long as they lived, as long as the Trinity existed. One for all time, alive as long as one of them lived.

Evil was in the air. They all felt it, shared senses assaulted by dripping malevolence and screaming darkness. They stopped, finding themselves deep in the forest, the only light hailing from the silver moon high overhead. They stood in a clearing, sweat dripping down their bodies, and they were not alone.

A group of dark shapes faced them, at least three dozen of them, probably more. They did not even pretend to be human, demonic faces lost in shadows, predator's eyes glowing in the moonlight. Animal growls emerged from throats that had once been human, but no longer.

One of them stood a little in front and Willow recognized him as Buffy started, seeing her memories of this Vampire sinking fangs into her neck, their neck. The Vampire looked at them and smiled.  
„If at first you don't succeed ..."

#

The forest was a dark landscape of silver moonlight and obsidian blackness, scorching summer heat covering everything like a blanket. The wood was dry as twigs and the slightest spark could have caused a towering inferno. A wolf howled at the shimmering disk of the moon.

Willow, Angel, and Buffy stood in the middle of a clearing, faced with more than three dozen snarling Vampires, who wanted to kill them. One night earlier Buffy and Angel had almost been killed by half that number. Almost.

The night around them was suffocating, darkness and heat pressing in on her from all sides. Sweat trickled down Willow's spine and her long blonde hair was a mass of sweat-soaked strands. How much of that was fright? She did not know.

The girl she had been but one night before would have been terrified, would never have entered this deep into the forest to begin with. She did not feel afraid. There was anxiety, but also an undeniable excitement. She felt Buffy and Angel fall into a fighting stance, muscles moving and tensing, and she mirrored them. She knew what to do. They all did.

The first few Vampires started moving and Willow moved to meet them. She remembered being awkward, always afraid of stumbling or bumping into someone. Now she moved with a liquid grace she had never imagined possible. Buffy and Angel moved like that, everything was like a dance.

Shapes moved around her, the very night was alive as demonic beasts tried to grab her, tried to break her. She evaded their hands and claws with movements she had never known herself capable of, she was aware of everything around her, knew where everyone was. The bond between the three parts of her soul blazed like the sun and filled with power.

She and Buffy twisted toward each other, Willow felt how her soul mate reached into her wind jacket and withdrew two stakes, their fingertips touched as Buffy handed one of them to Willow, a spark of energy trailed across their skin. The same movement carried Willow before one of the Vampires and the stake into its heart. Only two steps away Buffy was doing the same. Two down.

Angel moved like the night, his black-clad shape merging with the darkness and being everywhere at once. Willow felt the wind brush across his skin as he grabbed one of the Vampires and threw it towards the trees to be impaled on a branch. She had felt the rippling in his muscles as he had done it.

She twisted out of the grip of one of the creatures and grabbed hold of it herself. The Vampire was at least one foot taller than she and outweighed her by over a hundred pounds. She lifted him with ease, felt the rush of energy in her veins, and threw him towards Angel, who had broken off a branch and held it ready.

Buffy took hold of Willow's wrists and started to twirl them around, a human whirlwind with two pairs of legs kicking out and striking demonic flesh wherever they turned, enemies falling left and right. They let go and staked prone forms with a speed neither of them had possessed one night earlier. Angel tore the head off a Vampire and kicked it into the darkness.

Willow lost herself in the rush of the fighting, a lethal dance of violence and sweat, the power blazing between them like a live wire. The Vampires could not lay a hand on them, they moved like quicksilver. The smile vanished from the lips of the lead Vampire.

Magic was in the air as Willow wove a spell, felt Buffy's and Angel's hands following her lead. Energy gathered between their fingers and flowed out to touch their enemies. Where it touched demonic flesh it burst into flame, Vampires screamed and cursed. Willow could never have maintained so powerful a spell for more than a few moments on her own.

The fire reached out and burned all those that it could reach, within a few seconds twenty burning heaps marked spots where Vampires had stood, illuminating the forest with eerie, flickering light. Only one Vampire remained, the others had died or fled. He looked at them across the clearing and Willow met his stare.

„This is not over!" he screamed at them, then vanished into the night.

Willow turned to look at Buffy and Angel by the light of the burning corpses. They looked beautiful. Buffy was soaked with sweat and dirt was smeared across her pale skin, but she glowed with a radiance that made Willow gasp.

Angel stood next to her like darkness to her light, an obsidian reflection of her beauty, every bit as breathtaking as Buffy, every bit as glorious. His dark eyes reflected the fire and it should have made him look hideous, especially with the blood on his hands on sprinkled on his face. He looked beautiful.

Willow saw herself through their eyes, long red hair moving in the soft breeze that had come over the forest, dirt and blood on her sweat-soaked clothes. Buffy was light and Angel was darkness, she stood between them. The light of humanity flowing with the darkness of witchcraft, glowing like the last rays of twilight or the beginning of morning.

Angel held his hands out to them and they molded into his larger body, flesh pressing against flesh, soul touching soul. Willow felt the energy moving in and out through their bond, the Trinity crying its joy to the night sky. One hand of her own and one of Buffy's started unbuttoning Angel's bloodstained shirt as he pulled their blouses away. Flesh touched flesh and magic flowed.

They were nude without knowing how they had gotten there, hands roaming over each others' skins, feeling the firmness of muscle and flesh. Willow touched Angel, touched Buffy, felt them touching herself, the borders of their beings falling away as they merged into an even tighter whole. She felt Angel shudder where Buffy touched him and it was like she was touching her, and she did.

They moved, they loved, falling onto the leaf-covered ground and no longer caring about the dying embers of burning Vampires around them. Their universe narrowed down to their bodies, the feel of skin against skin, magic flowing between and through them. Nothing else mattered, only their union.

Willow felt three bodies beginning to shudder in the early stages of orgasm and calm spread through her body. She took a moment to recognize it. She felt happy, perfectly happy for the first time she could remember. The two people she loved most in the world were here with her, touching her, loving her. Perfect happiness.

She had barely finished that thought as icy dread filled her. Perfect happiness, could it be that ... ? Thoughts were drowned out as they climaxed as one, waves of pleasure roaring through them and across their bond, building on each other and upping the feeling over and over again. Perfect happiness. Willow screamed.

Cold came over them like the break of winter, a chilling pain like icicles piercing her heart, their hearts. Agony tearing at their essence, trying to break through their bond, trying to smother the flames of the Trinity. Willow screamed again and felt it vibrate through the throats of Buffy and Angel. What had they done?

Angelus was there, screaming in their bond, the demon sinking bloody fangs into their merged soul, trying to tear it away, trying to drive it out. She felt his cold hands on her throat, choking her, wanting her dead, wanting her and Buffy dead. Their souls were merged with the one he was driving out and he would tear them out of their bodies as well.

For a moment they drowned in fear, cold terror as they came face to face with Angelus, not outside where they had faced him before, but inside, inside their own minds, their own souls. He was there and he laughed as he smothered Willow and Buffy with his own evil presence.

Willow felt Buffy clutching her hand and they threw power against Angelus, holding on to the bond, forcing the glow back into their third part. Angelus screamed and cursed, fighting against them every bloody inch of the way. He shouted obscenities, his hatred like spiked talons in their flesh, pure malevolence tearing their skin off.

Angel was there, he held their hands, their souls as one pushed Angelus back into the abyss, forcing him back into his stygian prison. The demon screamed, a sound like the end of the world, and vanished into the darkness, once again locked away, locked away for the time being.

They fell to the ground, exhausted beyond all measure, shivering from the cold of what had almost happened.

„The curse", Willow whispered, „the curse."

„My god, my god, my god!" Buffy was weeping next to her.

They both looked over at Angel, who had risen to his knees and stared at them, stared at his own hands. She felt his anguish. Almost, they had come so close, they had almost lost him, lost themselves, given Angelus not just Angel's body, but their own. The demon was alive and well and would never go away.

She wanted to assure him, wanted to tell him that it was all right. They had locked the evil away, had driven it back into the screaming darkness. He knew better, though, as did she, as did Buffy. They had almost failed, almost let Angelus free. Only the strength of their bond and lots of dumb luck had saved them from eternal damnation and Angel knew it.

He screamed at the night sky, a howl of pure anguish that tore through the forest like the wrathful cry of god, silencing even the wolves. Willow cried, knowing what he felt. The curse was still there, a part of all of them now, an eternal stain upon their union.

Angel still screamed and was gone in a whisper of leaves, storming away into the night. Willow and Buffy held each other, their sobbing drowned out by the demon's anguish.

#

Willow walked home, close to tears, feeling numb and empty inside. Angel was gone, he had walled himself off from them, afraid and hurt of what his demon might do to them across the link. So he separated from their union. It was like missing a limb.

She shook her head. It was not as if he could stay away from them. They were one, the fighting and ... what came afterwards had proved that. His tying himself off would only result in more pain for all of them. Angel knew that as well, but he could not return. Willow cried.

„Willow, what's wrong?"

She opened her eyes and, through the shimmer of tears, saw Oz standing in front of her house. She remembered. They had planned to go to the movies tonight. Hours ago. He looked worried and she could smell the fear on him. She could smell it. Like Angel could. She hugged herself.

Oz came closer, then stopped. She saw his brow furrow and felt otherworldly energy spill across him. The full moon was but a few nights away and his wolf was slowly coming to the surface. He sniffed and his eyes widened.

„You smell of blood. Of blood and Vampire. What happened?"

She looked at him and knew that she would never again see him as she had before. He had been her boyfriend, she had even loved him, but that was all in the past. Yet how could she tell him? How could she tell him what she had done, what she, Buffy, and Angel now were.

Willow crumbled against him in tears and Oz held her tight. She clawed her fingers into his shirt and cried against his chest. It was not him she felt, though. She felt how Buffy, who had gone home as well, lay in her bed and cried into her pillows.

Distant, like a whisper in the night, she felt Angel, running through the night, trying to run away from them, from Angelus, from everything. She cried and knew he could feel her tears running down her cheek. He screamed and slammed the walls back into place, shutting her off.

#

The Vampire was called John Collieri and he was not yet a hundred years dead. He had been given the assignment of killing the Slayer by his master and he had studied the methods that had been tried on that particular mark before.

He knew that she had killed the Master, she had tamed Angelus, she had killed hundreds of Vampires. He knew that she was easily the match of every single Vampire she might meet, even if that one was centuries older than he was. So he took the simplistic approach. He had come to Sunnydale and sired dozens of children. Cannon fodder.

It had worked. They had overwhelmed the Slayer, despite the presence of her pet Vampire. He had drained her himself, she had been all but dead. They had left her to die, along with the rouge. They should have died. Even if a doctor had been there immediately she should have died.

They were alive. He had not believed it. Angel had had his limbs back, no Vampire could regenerate limbs this quickly. This reeked of black magic. They had had a girl with them, a redhead, she was a witch, he had smelled that much. He had wanted to kill her, too. No more lifesaving spells then.

He had not expected them to fight like this. He had never seen anyone fight like this. They had been like demons, worse than demons, moving too fast to be seen, killing too fast to be stopped. He had sired nearly seventy children since coming to Sunnydale and two failed attacks had cost him nearly all of them.

They had used death magic. Only the most powerful of mages could maintain a spell like that one. He had not believed a girl so young capable of that kind of magic. How had she done it? How had they all done that? There was something going on here he was not privy to.

He dialed his master's number. The master answered on the second ring.

„Yes?"

„Something happened."

„Is she dead?"

„No, but I ..."

„Why is she not dead?"

„I had them dead, but ..."

„Them? You were supposed to kill the Slayer, what else have you been up to?"

„Well, I ..."

„Angelus? You tried to kill Angelus?"

„He was there with her and I ..."

„I am coming to Sunnydale. If I find you there, you are dead."

He tried to apologize to the empty, buzzing phone. He gulped and started making travel arrangements out of town.

#

Oz had left after Willow had assured him she was okay, maybe a thousand times or so. She huddled into her sheets and tried to get warm, but it was to no avail. The emptiness inside her was like ice, lethal cold seeping through her veins. The hole in her soul was tearing her open and left her bleeding.

She felt Buffy in her bed, miles away, yet so close that she felt she would touch her if she just reached out. The sheets of her bed seemed to wrinkle beneath Buffy's body, Willow could feel her breathing right next to her. Buffy was drifting off to sleep and what little barriers she had erected to remain separate from Willow floated away.

Buffy was dreaming of graveyards at night and Vampires oozing from the ground like a plague. She had told her of those dreams, but now Willow was inside. She realized she was sleeping as well, but this was not her dream.

She saw Buffy running from Vampires, too many of them to fight. Willow saw, no, she felt her fear, how much she feared the things she hunted in the night. Willow walked toward her and closed her arms around her friend. Buffy saw her, this was but a dream, but it did not end as she realized that.

Blackness closed around them and Willow felt her, felt Buffy's pale skin against her body, could feel the softness of her hair as she moved her fingers through the blond strands. Their bodies were miles apart, but the bond did not care about distances. They were both with each other and Willow could kiss her friend's tears away, as Buffy kissed Willow's tears away.

The two friends held each other in the darkness of the Trinity, which would not burn without its missing third part.

#

Angel was alone in the darkness. He could sense the dawn, close at hand. He would have to seek cover and found himself wondering whether he cared. Maybe the bond would make him proof against the sun. Maybe his death would free Buffy and Willow of the curse of Angelus.

The demon moved inside him, strained against his chains. Angelus, he whispered in Angel's ear. He had come so close to freedom tonight and would not go to sleep that fast. The demon was alive and moving, and Angel did not dare go close to humans before he had him under control again.

Yeah, keep telling yourself it's just that, that this is the only reason you are still hiding in the woods. Angel had not fled from Angelus, but from Buffy and Willow. He had fled from the bond. The Trinity was progressive, he could feel it. Every time they touched, every time they used it, it tied them closer together.

Angelus was his curse, his alone. No one else should suffer from it, certainly not his two best friends. He had felt them inside his head, felt their blood thundering through their veins. Sharing another's blood was nowhere near as intimate as what they now shared. Not even a Sire-Chile bond could compare.

He was afraid. He knew what it was like to lose his identity, his very soul to another. He knew that Buffy and Willow would never do the things Angelus did, but they would no longer be Buffy and Willow. If they became one, one in mind as well as soul, the darkness inside him might overpower them. It might turn them into something that ...

He screamed and felt the emptiness inside them, the part where two thirds of his soul were missing. He had to sever the bond, destroy the Trinity. It had saved their lives, but damned their souls. They had to be safe from him, safe from Angelus. Even if it cost his life.

Darkest before dawn, the forest moved around him in a cool breeze that calmed him for the moment. There had to be some way to break the Trinity without killing Buffy and Willow. He knew as much about the spell as Willow did. As long as one lived, the others could use their combined life force to heal just about every injury. If one of them died regardless, though, then all would be dragged down into hell.

There had to be a way, there just had to be.

„Is daddy looking for a way to be free?"

Angel froze as he heard the voice. How could he not recognize it?

„Dru."

She emerged from the darkness, clad all in white, looking like a ghost.

„What do you want here?"

„The moon told me that you would be in danger, my Angel. It told me the Slayer would capture you, the witch would burn you. I sent my children to kill her before she could do it. I am so sorry I failed."

„You wanted to have Buffy killed?"

Dru walked closer, close enough to touch him. The forest around them seemed to meld into a solid, all-encompassing blackness. There was just the two of them, nothing else in the world. Only minutes until dawn.

„Only to save you, daddy. I know what they did to you. The moon told me that they would snare your soul and never let it go. But you want to be free of them, don't you?"

The darkness was everywhere and Angel felt cold seep into his body.

„I know how to free you of them." Dru said.

The singing of a bird heralded the first light of dawn and Angel looked at Dru.

„Talk to me!" he said.

#

Angel looked at the face opposite him and shivered. It was his face, but the cruel grin that played over the lips of his reflection was not his, could never be his. He looked into the mirror of his soul and the face of Angelus stared back at him, smiling.

„What's the matter, Angel? See someone you know?"

„I am not you. I will never be you."

Angelus laughed.

„Oh, wouldn't that be something, you not being me. I am your dark reflection, Angel. The monster under your bed. The face you would see if only the mirror would show you something. We are one and the same."

„No! No! You are a demon, something that took over my body when Dala turned me. You are not me!"

„Come on, Angel, you know that is not true. The demon inside you is the killer, but a demon does not torture its victims. A demon does not play sadistic games. You are the one who loves the killing. You are the one who played the games, who put dead children back into their cribs so their parents would come to give them a kiss good-night on their cold brows. You are the one, who made me the most feared killer of them all."

„No! That is not true!"

„Deny it all you want, Angel, but the end result remains the same. Sooner or later you will be mine again. You kept me prisoner for nearly a hundred years, but then you had to let me out. I will get out again, you will let me out again. I have the time to be patient."

He laughed again and Angel wanted his face to change, wanted to see him as the demon with amber eyes and long fangs. His face did not change, it remained human. The human face laughed at him and Angel shuddered as he did.

„And now, Angel, you have handed me even more than the key to your own soul. Now you have given me your friends. Willow. Your beloved Buffy. They will be mine!"

He turned to run, to get away from this vision, this spectre of doom. Angelus laughter followed him all the way.

„You will never escape me, Angel, we are one!"

Angel woke with a start, drenched in sweat, his heart hammering. Why did his heart beat? He had not eaten last night, he had not drunk blood, his heart should not beat. The Trinity glowed inside him, a faint ember, but it made his heart beat. The bond was there, always there, and Angelus knew it.

Last night was a nightmare, worse, a dream turned into a nightmare. The beauty of the Trinity, its roaring flame, the glory of sharing his others' abilities, their feelings, their thoughts. Only to have Angelus intrude. The demon would do exactly what he had said. He would take Buffy and Willow and turn them into monsters, into killers. Angel knew he could do it.

„Feeling better, my Angel?"

Dru was there, sitting at the foot of his bed. He remembered, he had taken her into his house, had invited her in. She had said she knew a way to break the Trinity. She had also said she had tried to kill Buffy. She had sent the Vampire that had nearly killed them both. He had to be insane to even be near her.

Dru was dressed all in white, her angelic face smiling at him, her shiny eyes windows into the world of insanity he had created inside her. He had driven her into madness and then turned her, making a demon of a gifted lunatic, ending up with something to terrible for words.

„You said you knew how to free me of Buffy and Willow, so talk!"

„The moon told me I had to kill the Slayer, otherwise she would curse you even more than you are cursed now, my Angel. Now it seems my actions caused this curse in the first place. The moon never told me that."

Angel rose and pulled her to her feet by the shoulders, digging into her skin with preternatural strength. He knew he was hurting her. He knew she liked that. Angelus stirred and whispered to him about the beautiful things he and Dru had done together in times past, things involving chains, whips, and holy water. Angelus laughed as Angel nearly blushed.

„I don't want to hear about the moon, Drusilla! I want to know how I can be free again!"

His vision wavered for a moment and he felt Buffy and Willow come awake somewhere, miles away. He clamped down on the bond, putting all his strength into shutting it down, keeping the walls around his mind solid and impenetrable. If Dru's presence leaked through ...

„I can feel your friends on my tongue." Dru said, smiling. She brushed her cheek across Angel's face and purred like a cat.

„I can smell the Slayer and the Witch on you, I can hear their blood in your veins. You are a Trinity, naughty boy and naughty girls."

„Stop telling me things I know, damn it! I need to be free of them!"

Dru looked at him, her face changing from amused to serious and back again, her moods swinging this way and that. Angel felt a tingle of magic inside himself, that part of himself that was Willow, and felt it recognize something in Drusilla.

„You have been playing with black magic?" he asked, but he already knew the answer.

„I have looked for ways to save you, my Angel. The moon told me about your predicament long before it happened."

„What did you find? Tell me!"

She pushed away from him and stomped her feet on the ground.

„You are being mean again. I come here to help you and you are being mean. You are not loving me, you are not even hurting me."

She smiled and swirled into his arms once more.

„The least you could do is punish me for running out on you half a year ago."

„You did not run. Spike took you away."

She kissed his neck and her touch repulsed him. She was Angelus' creature, she represented everything he was, everything he liked. She was the demon's daughter and he could hear Angelus laugh inside his head.

„You fear for them, you fear that you will make them like me. Why do you fear it, my Angel? I would love to have two sisters to be naughty with."

„If you don't want to help me, Dru, then say it! But I swear to you, you will never see 'your Angel' in this existence again!"

She laughed, the sound so pure and innocent, it danced across his skin and made him shiver. Dru could do things with her voice that most women could not do with all of their body. She leaned into him and stroked her hands across his chest.

„I want to help you, my Angel. You will always be my Angel, it does not matter whether you call yourself Angel or Angelus. I know you and we will be together."

He pushed her away this time, walking to the other side of the room.

„Doesn't Spike think a little differently about that?" he asked.

„Spike, my Spike, he was a poor substitute for my Angel. When you left us to wallow in your self-pity, he was the only one left, the only one who could take care of me. But he could never be the demon you are, my Angel. I told him we could be friends!"

She laughed and Angel could well imagine how deep that must have cut Spike. She was there again and turned his face toward her.

„I will free you of your bond, but I ask a price."

She told him the price and Angel found himself nodding.

#

Willow woke with a feeling of dread, something bleeding out of the dark hole that was Angel's part of their being. Something was wrong, terribly wrong. Upon coming awake she had sensed something, something evil. Now it was gone, but its scent lingered inside her.

She dressed and started running towards Buffy's house. It was a school day today, but she did not care. School had ceased to be important to her, homework did not matter anymore, nothing mattered except Buffy and Angel. Angel was in terrible danger, they all were in terrible danger. She could feel it.

Buffy met her halfway between their houses.

„You felt it, too, didn't you?" Buffy asked.

„Angel!"

„He is in danger."

There was no need for more words between them. Buffy handed Willow a stake from her jacket and the witch stuffed it down the back of her jeans. She was wearing black jeans, a red blouse, and a black wind jacket. Buffy wore nearly the same and the whole thing looked a lot like an outfit Angel would wear.

They started running towards Angel's house. Their hands touched and Willow waited for them to be swept along the power of the Trinity, like they had been last night. Running like the wind, flying on wings of magic. Nothing happened. The Trinity stayed silent.

Buffy and Willow looked at each other and the air of worry on their faces needed neither words nor bond to translate. Something was horribly wrong. They ran all-out, everything except the road towards Angel's mansion became a blur. Willow knew that at least a bit of the Slayer's stamina had translated to her, otherwise she would have crumbled into a panting wreck by now. But there was no magic, the bond was cold.

Reaching the mansion seemed to take hours, though Willow was sure only minutes had passed. The place looked as innocent as always in the light of the morning sun, but an air of evil seemed to hang over it. Willow was not sure whether it was Buffy's Slayer instincts or her own affinity for magic that senses it, but that did not matter. The malevolence was almost tangible.

Buffy squeezed Willow's hand for a moment and they did not need words between them. A slight trickle of magic flowed across their interlocked fingers and Willow felt the Slayer's strength in her limbs. It was not the rush it had been last night, but it would have to suffice. It would just have to.

The front room of the mansion was deserted, even their enhanced senses did not pick up any sound except their own heartbeats. Willow did see something, though. Like a tangled growth it spread through the room, it oozed from the ground beneath their feet. Buffy looked through Willow's eyes and saw it, too.

„Black magic?" she asked, knowing the answer. Someone had dabbled with the darkest of magical powers here.

„I knew that Angel knows some magic", Buffy said, „but this ..."

„I can't believe this is his doing." Willow whispered.

The hush in the room seemed to be tangible, a heavy blanket over their heads. The day's heat had penetrated the walls and Willow's blouse showed dark stains of sweat. She held the stake with one hand and felt it trying to slip out of her wet hands. Every instinct screamed at her to get out, to run away. She couldn't, they couldn't. Their third was here somewhere.

Willow felt it suddenly, the snapping sound in her inner ear which meant a spell had been completed. Magic was in the air, darkest magic. She felt it crashing toward them like a great black wave. Willow screamed and Buffy felt it, too. The doors in front of them flew open.

„No!" Buffy screamed.

Dru stood there, Drusilla the mad Vampire, and Angel stood by her side. He looked subdued, in pain. Drusilla was laughing and the magic came over them.

Crimson mist rose from the floor around them and Willow recognized the spell, but too late. She tried to enact a counter spell, but the magic danced out of reach as the mist reached her face and penetrated into her mouth and nose.

Buffy coughed beside her, the crimson mist everywhere around them. Willow's vision grew fuzzy as the world tilted sideways and she found herself lying on the floor. She felt Buffy hit the floor behind her somewhere, felt the spark of her beloved's consciousness fade.

The last thing Willow saw was Angel coming toward them.

„Why?" she wanted to say, but the sound did not penetrate past her lips. She saw Angel's lips move in response, but she did not hear the words as the darkness claimed her.

#

Willow was dreaming of graveyards at night with silver moonlight shining down on them. Them? Buffy was there, standing by her side. The moonlight played over her pale skin and Willow would have shivered with pleasure, if she weren't so busy shivering from the cold. It shouldn't be cold, should it?

This was a dream, but it did not feel like a dream. One woke up when one realized one was dreaming, right? So why did they not wake up? She knew that they had to wake up, for something scary was coming, something that would turn this dream into a nightmare.

„Buffy?"

„I am here Willow."

„Where is Angel?"

The Trinity was breathing over their skin, a hot summer's wind moving through their hair. The third part of their soul was close by, wherever here was, and he was no longer closing himself off from them, not completely. Angel had lifted the walls he had erected, just enough to have power seep through it like water through a cracked dam.

They felt him moving in the shadows around them, moving like liquid through every opening and crack in the dark forest that surrounded them. They could hear his animal growl, a sound not human in the least. Angel was out there and he was stalking them.

Willow felt Buffy tense against her as they stood back to back, surveying the graveyard. Without thinking they had divided the surroundings between them and stood ready, or as ready as they could be. Willow tried to reach toward Angel through the crack in the wall, but he danced out of her reach. She tried to touch him, but found only darkness.

„What is going on here, Buffy?" she asked, hating the way her voice trembled.

„Angel!", Buffy screamed, „Show yourself! What are you doing?"

He spilled out of the darkness like a ghost and stood in front of them, dressed all in black. His face was completely expressionless, like a stone mask. He still looked human, but the energy rolling off him and towards them was anything but.

„I am trying to save you." he said.

„Save us? You are working with Drusilla." Buffy screamed at him.

„She can separate us. She can break the Trinity."

Willow walked toward him, one hand outstretched as if to touch him.

„Are you so afraid of what we have become, Angel?" she whispered.

„It has given Angelus a road into your souls. I would rather die than have you at his mercy."

„We can fight him", Buffy said, „We fought him together and drove him back into his pit. He can't overcome us if only we stand together."

Angel laughed, but there was no joy in his voice.

„You don't believe that anymore than I do, Buffy. Angelus nearly took us, all three of us. There is no telling whether we can drive him out a second time. But I can tell you what he will do with the power of the Trinity, should he get free."

Images flashed around them, superimposed over the graveyard, images of burning cities, fields of graves, mortals dying by the thousands, the world buried with fire. Angelus laughing, standing on top of the ashes of the world, Willow and Buffy standing by his side with demonic grins on their faces.

„If he gains control of the Trinity", Angel said, „there will be no stopping him."

Willow gulped and knew the images to be true. This could happen. It could.

„Even so", Buffy said, „how can we trust Drusilla? She is more likely to help Angelus gain control of us than anything else."

„I know that, but she has given me her word."

„Her word? You are trusting her word?"

He straightened in front of them and darkness seemed to pool around him, making him appear larger, scarier.

„I am her Sire, she is my Childe. I am not proud of that, but the bond between us means she can never lie to me. I would know if she lied to me."

Buffy walked closer to him.

„Are you really that much of a fool? Drusilla is totally bonkers, she is talking to the moon and puppets. Even if she was telling the truth at that moment, she might have completely forgotten it seconds later."

Angel looked down and Willow could feel his fear and uncertainty over the bond, just as much as she felt Buffy's rage. This was all wrong. The Trinity should have made them one, closer than ever, but it was as if they were now enemies.

„Can you tell us where we are?" Willow asked, trying to change the subject.

„Little witch, little witch, drop her down the well!"

Drusilla had appeared behind them, dancing across the graveyard with her white dress trailing behind her. She skipped from grave to grave and sung a song about dropping witches and Slayers down from high places.

„We are in a form of trance", Angel said, „our collective unconsciousness, if you will."

„And here we'll shatter bonds and spells until the morning comes!" Dru sang.

„How did you plan to break the spell without killing us all?" Willow asked.

„With these!"

Angel pointed and only now did Willow notice that not one, but two moons hung in the sky overhead. They did not look like moons, they looked like tiny crystal balls, glowing from within. Willow recognized them, as did Buffy.

„Orbs of Tesula!" Buffy whispered.

„They capture the errand souls from the void." Angel said.

Willow turned toward him.

„Is this your plan? You want to break the Trinity and then replace our shattered soul with these?"

„Rip them out and stuff them back, be careful to leave a little slack."

„Shut up, Drusilla!" Buffy screamed at her. Dru danced on, not impressed.

„Angel", Willow said, taking his hand, „you are trusting all our lives to a cobbled-up spell to be performed by a mad Vampire. Are you truly this desperate?"

She touched his chest and the contact, though not really skin to skin, made both of them shiver.

„Do you think so little of us?"

Buffy touched him as well, taking his arm and wrapping it around her like a robe.

„We are so strong together, my love. Angelus will never defeat us. We will find a way to drive him out, I promise."

They both felt him waver, felt him open the walls between them a little wider. The flames of the Trinity roared to life, just a little, but the landscape around them grew brighter, as if the day was beginning.

„I ... I don't know ... I"

„A deal's a deal's a deal, never forget, always remember!" Dru sang.

Buffy looked at Dru, then back at Angel.

„What is she talking about?"

Angel looked down, his face flushing with shame.

„She asked for a price. She would free us of the Trinity and in return she wanted something."

„What?" Buffy screamed.

„Do never break your word", Dru sang on, „not in a place of magic. Words are bonds, words do count. Break your word at your own peril!"

„She is right", Willow said, „we are right in the middle of a spell. I can smell the magic all around us."

It moved through the darkness like a river, unseen but felt, waves of power crawling through this landscape that was their unconsciousness. Willow could feel it in the goose bumps on her skin, the shiver down her spine. Black magic, darkest magic, death magic. What had Dru unleashed?

„What did you promise her in return for her help?" Buffy screamed at Angel.

„Her fondest desire!" he whispered.

The Trinity opened up as Angel broke down the walls. Energy crackled between them and pushed back the darkness. Dru was singing over the roar of power, magic meeting magic in a violent clash. Willow could not hear the words, but the mad Vampire was laughing between the lines.

The midnight landscape was torn open, a gaping wound of fire split it in half. The ground beneath their feet cracked and crumbled, moving with the power unleashed here. Willow felt the snap in her head, a spell completed. Angel had unleashed their power, but it was too late, the magic conjured up by Dru was in full swing.

The Orbs of Tesula blazed overhead like twin suns and Willow knew they contained souls now, errand souls captured from the void, souls just waiting to enter a new form. A soul had nothing to do with the individual it was in, it did not contain memories, nor did it have personality. It was the raw energy of creation, able to breathe true life into the dead or the undead.

Willow felt that energy above her, a sharp contrast to the roiling darkness below her. What had Dru unleashed? Did she have any idea of the forces at work here? Willow trembled like a deer caught in a car's headlights. What magic she possessed was like a firecracker next to a nuclear explosion.

Dru was still singing and her face was a mask of pure joy.

„Her fondest desire!" Willow whispered.

Something moved in the flames of black magic, something was alive in there. It emerged from the inferno of unleashed energy like a demon rising from the pits and he was nothing less.

„That would be me, I guess!" Angelus said.

#

„We will destroy you!"

„Oh, will you? And how exactly do you plan on accomplishing that little miracle?"

Angel moved in front of Buffy and Willow.

„I will never let you have them."

„Angel, when will you learn? By creating the Trinity I already have them. You are all part of each other, what one has, all have. I am already inside them, just as I am inside you."

He shook his head and smiled.

„You can not defeat me. You never could defeat me. Over a century you watched as I slaughtered my way through the world wearing your face. Even when the Gypsies performed their curse, they did not curse me. They cursed you, Angel. They made you pay for my crimes. You felt my pain, you tortured yourself over the things I had done. I never felt any pain Angel, never in my life."

He laughed.

„Even during your century of freedom, I was always there. In the accusing faces looking at you, in the nightmares you had every single night. I was in every dark room, in every shadow, every corner. Never apart, Angel. You are me and I am you."

Buffy stepped around Angel's body to face the demon.

„You are nothing, Angelus, nothing but pain and destruction. Which is nothing at all."

„Maybe. But what happened when Angel finally found happiness? He fell to me again, again he lost. And again I used his face and again he was the one who was punished. You did not send me to hell, love, you sent him!"

He walked closer to them.

„But that is all in the past now. Believe me, love, we will be one, big, happy family. All the glorious things we will be able to do."

Willow looked around and saw Drusilla, standing a bit on the side, looking at Angelus as if he was the center of her universe, the only thing that mattered. It wasn't love what she saw on the mad Vampire's face, it was much more than that. Dru could not imagine a life without Angelus, there was nothing but him.

Why should she help them get rid of him?

„We have to do something, Angel!" Willow whispered.

„Yes, Angel", Angelus mocked them, „you have to do something. Why don't you use the power of the Trinity against me? Wouldn't that make you ... happy?"

He laughed and Willow shivered as his voice rolled across her skin. This was not real, nothing here was real. Angelus was not free, he was still a prisoner inside Angel, imprisoned deep down in his unconsciousness. That was where they were, in their unconsciousness.

„You can't do anything to us, Angelus", Willow screamed at him, „you are less than a whisper outside the window, you are but a shadow in the night."

„That sounds like you have been reading too many old books, witch!"

„You are helpless unless the curse is broken. You can't get free unless Angel experiences a moment of true happiness again. This is just grandstanding!"

Angelus shook his head.

„Oh, Willow! You are right, of course. That old Gypsy curse still keeps me down. But there are two ways around every spell, you as a witch should know that. One, you can use the built-in finish button."

He leaned toward her and smirked.

„Or you can simply overpower it."

Willow felt the magic that Drusilla had somehow conjured. She had been gifted even before her death, but becoming a Vampire had done more than drive her insane. It had empowered her as well. The dark magic she had called here was so strong, so very strong. It could break them. It could break the Gypsy curse.

„It can break you!" Angelus laughed.

„My Angel will be with me again!" Dru sang, starting to dance all over again. Angelus looked over at her and shook his head.

„Crazy bitch. How can one not love her?"

„Drusilla", Angel shouted at her, „you promised to break the Trinity, to take Buffy and Willow out of his reach. Do it now!"

She stopped and looked at him, her face unreadable. Willow could not even guess what was going on inside that head.

„First thing first, my Angel", Dru sang, „you have to be free, you must become yourself. Only then can the bond be broken!"

Angel snarled and his demon face showed.

„If you are trying to trick me ..."

„Of course she will trick you", Angelus remarked, „she is our Childe, we raised her that way."

Willow grabbed Angel's arm, pulling him toward her.

„Did you hear the spell?"

„What?"

„When Drusilla performed the spell, what words did she use? What were the words?"

„I am not sure, she said something about breaking that which is one, about severing the fires that bind."

Willow's thoughts moved like quicksilver, like shadow creatures running through the forest. The magic roaring past them, the closed spell Drusilla had created, she felt it on her tongue, on her fingertips. She was a witch and the spell sang to her.

„True happiness, my Angel", Drusilla said, „We need true happiness, the Trinity is one, Angelus is one, the Trinity is Angelus. Call him forth or he will remain forever, forever in you, forever in the witch down in the well, forever in the cute blond Slayer."

Willow followed the words and tasted the magic. She opened the bond, unleashed the fire of the Trinity. She felt Buffy only one meter to her right, felt the anxiety in her muscles, the fear in her blood. She felt Angel almost touching her, the coldness of his being, the cool breeze of his power.

The Trinity flared to life and Willow whispered to her others, telling them what she suspected. They all glanced at Drusilla and the mad Vampire smiled, then winked at them, singing a new song about roaring flames and burning wings. The decision was made and Angel spoke with one voice that was three.

„If it's true happiness you want, you will get it!"

Buffy and Willow molded themselves into his side, flesh touching flesh, mind touching mind. He embraced them with much more than his arms, he tore down the walls and opened himself to their beings. The borders of their distinctiveness shattered and the Trinity screamed in joy.

Angelus laughed as he stood but a step away, feeling the power unleashed, feeling the walls of his prison crumble. They would set him free, he could feel it. The power of the Trinity was intoxicating, flowing through him like a drug pulsing in his veins. Before his eyes he saw the things he would be able to do, the destruction he could command.

Willow, Buffy, Angel, the three who were one, they united in an orgy of energy and love, baring everything to each other, all their emotions, all their insecurities, all the little faults and pettiness they all had. Everything was consumed by the fire and made it roar even higher.

„Yes! Yes!" Angelus screamed. He took that final step and touched them, feeling the happiness thundering through them, ten times more intense than any orgasm ever could be, going far beyond the physical. Raw energy flooded through the bond and crashed into the spell of the Gypsy's like a tidal wave.

The spell shattered like glass.

Coldness spread through the Trinity, a dark wind threatening to smother the flames. Angelus screamed in triumph and entered into the bond even as the shattered spell was tearing at the joint soul of the three. The demon saw it, saw the bright glow that was three fused souls tear away from the flesh, saw it flee into the night.

The Trinity was empty, an open house only waiting for him. He laughed again and stepped into it, immediately feeling the sheer power that was waiting for him. Slayer, Vampire, Witch, all fused into one. If they thought a Vampire alone was carnage, he would show them what he could do now.

„And now for part two of our little game!" Dru sang and Angelus whirled around to look at her. He looked over her and saw the Orbs of Tesula. No, not Orbs. Just one Orb, only one. He saw the brilliance that was the soul of the three, saw it enter the Orb, saw it caught and captured.

„Dru, what are you ...?"

„My Angel!" she whispered.

Something snapped inside his head, one of his three heads, and Angelus knew that a spell had closed, another spell. The second part of the spell Dru had amassed so much dark magic and power for, the part of the spell that had soaked up the power of the Trinity. He felt it roaring against him, power such as he had never imagined. He saw it rolling toward him and knew that he had been betrayed.

„Life's a bitch!" Dru giggled.

The power thundered into the Trinity, the spell pressing it into the bond with irresistible force. Angelus felt it tear at his very being, felt it flowing into every part of the three bodies he now inhabited. The spell was like a million fingers, flowing over him, touching him, prying him loose wherever he held himself.

„And so am I!" Dru laughed.

Angelus was swept out of the Trinity like being caught in a whirlpool, carried along on waves of magic, unable to hold on, unable to resist. He screamed in impotence, howled his pain and rage for all the world to hear, but it availed him nothing.

The second Orb of Tesula was there, looming before him like the sun that would burn him to ash. This could not be, the Orb could not contain him, he was not a soul. He was thrown into the crystal ball and felt himself sucked inside, drunken like water, every drop of his essence imprisoned in magical crystal.

He cried and fell silent.

The first Orb glowed with the undiminished power of three souls, three souls who were one. The power of the spell was not yet spent and tore the crystal open, emptying its contents, pouring them back into the flames of the Trinity. Like gasoline to a fire the bond burst into brilliance.

Dru was singing a song about wishes fulfilled.

Willow, Buffy, and Angel woke as one. They felt each other come awake, felt as each of them drew a scared breath, then relaxed as they realized it had worked. It had truly worked. Willow reached inward and found the Trinity intact, the blinding radiance of three souls fused into one firmly in place.

„The Trinity is still there." Angel said.

He looked at Dru, who was sitting at the foot of the bed the three of them were lying on. The sun outside had set and the only light came from a couple of candles the mad Vampire had lit.

„We turned the plan upside-down", Willow said, „we changed the spell."

„We did, we did, we did", Dru giggled, „me and the witch, the witch and me."

„But Angelus ..."

„He is gone, Angel", Buffy said, „can't you feel it?"

Willow felt Angel reach inside of him, searching for the darkness at the bottom of his being, the demon imprisoned there. He reached out and found nothing. The demon and the curse, both were gone.

„I ... I never dared hope ..." he stuttered.

„The original spell would have broken the Trinity and given us all new souls from the Orbs, except for you, Angel. You would have become Angelus again."

He shook his head.

„No, that was never the plan. Dru wanted Angelus for herself. Only for herself."

Buffy looked confused.

„Now I would like to know what just happened." Angel said.

Willow knew that he could take the knowledge through their bond, but he held back. She knew why. During that final moment their fusion had been complete, three beings becoming one. While they valued their bond, they also valued their individuality.

„The spell was changed. I realized that we did not need to break the Trinity on order to drive Angelus out and Dru did not care one way or another. She used one of the Orbs to capture our joint soul when the Gypsy curse tore it out of our bodies. Then she used the power we unleashed with the Trinity to suck Angelus into the other. He is gone from us, forever gone."

Angel still looked at Dru. Buffy intervened.

„Why, Dru. Now Angelus is gone forever. Why did you do it?"

„He's not gone, never gone, always with me, cute blond Slayer."

She raised her hand and showed them one of the Tesula Orbs. Willow felt it, felt Angel stare into the orb and see his own face.

„He is in there." Angel whispered.

Dru rose and danced out into the darkness.

„Always with me, always mine, my Angel, with his princess."

She vanished into the night and Angel fell back on the bed.

„I ... I can't believe he is finally gone."

Buffy rested her chin on his chest and looked at him.

„Well, you know what that means for us, right?"

She looked at Willow and took her hand.

„For the three of us."

Angel smiled. Yes, he knew. His two others began stroking his flesh and each other, their love feeding the fires of the Trinity. For the first time ever Angel felt he could really be totally content ... and did not dread that happening.

#

In the depths of the Orb Angelus hammered against the walls of his crystal prison, but they would not break. He screamed and he screamed, but only one heard him.

„Together forever, me and my angel, never apart!"

#

Angel woke from deep sleep and, for a single, endless moment, thought that it might all have been but a dream. The Trinity, Buffy and Willow, the terrible showdown with Angelus, that purged the evil of the demon from his being forever.

He was lying in a tangle of warm sheets, smelling of sex and sweat, and two sleeping forms were snuggled against him. The other parts of his soul, so close he could feel their breathing on his skin, a warm wind driving the cold from his bones. He had been cold for so long, he had stopped noticing it until he started sharing the warmth of his two beloveds.

He rose slowly, careful not to wake them. Not bothering with clothes, he padded out of the bed room. The large living room of the mansion was dark, all the windows were heavily draped. All except one.

Angel always left one window undraped, allowing a single slice of sunlight to penetrate his dark house, a reminder of the price he paid for eternal life. The golden morning light stood starkly against the darkness, dust motes dancing like dervishes.

„Angel?"

Turning around, he saw Willow and Buffy standing behind him. The twilight dipped their bodies into shadows, so beautiful it took his breath away. A light breeze came in through the window, ruffling hair of gold and flame.

He could no longer call them girls, they were women in every way. He felt them touch each other, felt fingers not his own trail across skin not his own. The Trinity awoke like the sun sending its first ray of light over the horizon.

They walked past him, so close the hairs on his forearms brushed across their skin. Magic sparkled where they touched, glittering in the twilight like falling stars. They stepped into the light and it flowed across their bodies as liquid gold, causing their skin to glow. Angel gasped at the sheer beauty of it.

They both reached a hand out to him.

„Come join us, Angel!" Buffy said.

He closed his eyes and shook his head.

„If only that were possible."

„Are you sure it is not?" Willow asked.

Their hands reached toward him, their fingers dipping into the twilight just beyond the slice of day. He raised his own hand and their fingertips touched within hair's breath of the light, so close Angel was sure it would burn him.

Where they touched the magic of the Trinity sparkled, warm wind trailing down their arms and into their bodies. Angel closed his eyes and felt the light of morning touch his skin, not his kin, driving the chill of night away.

Every time he had been touched by sunlight during the last two and a half centuries it had been burning needles sinking into his skin, searing pain causing the darkness inside him to scream. The demon had feared the light of the day, but the demon was gone, gone forever.

Was he still a Vampire without it? He did not know, he just did not know. He did not feel the thirst, but he had not really felt it since the Trinity had been joined. They were all feeding off the blazing flame of their bond, it made his heart beat, made his skin feel warm.

Just one step, a single step, it would not take any more to find out. Make that one step into the light of morning, let it spill over your pale skin. Would it feel the way it felt on Buffy's skin? On Willow's skin? Or would it burn him, make him burst into flames and pain?

Angel stood at the edge of morning and wavered, not knowing what to do. The Trinity blazed like a star between them, his beloveds' love and caring flooding into him as white-hot energy. They urged him forward, convinced he could do it, enveloping him in their light.

He experienced a vision of the three of them, running through the forest hand in hand, riding the power of the Trinity as they had done before, but not in the dark of night. Golden sunlight fell through the leaves, endlessly masquerading the ground in patterns of light and shadow. They spilled out of the forest into the open with the sun shining down on them.

Angel wept tears of joy and walked into the light.

THE END


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